Yes. This brewery escapade is so large it requires multiple parts. The end saga may well be more expansive and epic than Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, that idiotic mormon vampire series and that dumbass Katness thing combined. Yeah— that big. Times a million.
We started our trek in Denver. Mile high city. Home of 10,000 medicinal marijuana pharmacies. Birthplace of thousands of bad tabloid news stories (jean benet ramsey, balloon boy, dog-bites-anchorwoman’s-face-on-air, et al). You’ve heard of the place. Oh, and John Elway has a car dealership here.
We headed out on I-70 toward our first destination, the final destination of Doc Holliday — Glenwood Springs. En route, we hit breweries in Frisco, Vail, Edwards and Eagle, Colorado.
Our first stop, Back Country brewery http://www.backcountrybrewery.com/ in Frisco (sister town to the more well-known Breckenridge ski resort town – and home of Breckenridge Brewery) was pleasant indeed. Sure, the brewery looked like a high-end ski resort-type brewery and probably catered to similar clientel, but our service was provided by a knowledgable and friendly bartender who knew his beer. Furthermore, the suds on tap were excellent all around, enough so that we bought a 22oz bomber for the road. Recommended.
Next came a few places in the Vail area (vail/eagle/edwards). Number one was Gore Range Brewery. http://www.gorerangebrewery.com/ Short story: it was ASS. It might as well have been Fuckrudders or Flingers or whatever generic Applebees-type place, only guilded with the money from millionaire skier types. For all i know, the beer was decent, but the ambiance was shit. Avoid (unless you make 7 figures a year exploiting children in Indonesian Nike factories, in which case DEFINITELY hit this place up, bro!).
Fortunately, our next stop was Crazy Mountain Brewery. http://www.crazymountainbrewery.com/ Although the beer didn’t annihilate me with its greatness, it was plenty good and the atmosphere was excellent. I’m fairly certain the abundance of large, beautiful, friendly dogs made it so. It’s difficult to not enjoy oneself when 70% of the company is of the playful canine variety. Again…recommended.
The final pitstop before Glenwood Springs was the holy-crap-what-an-unexpectedly-awesome little high-desert town that somehow-has-a-brewery of Eagle, Colorado. The downtown had the charm of the Old West (like two dozen other bad-ass colorado towns), only this place wasn’t all dolled up like Silverton or some other high-profile 1880′s type tourist town. This place was….forgotten. Quaint. Adorable. Authentic….and probably miserable to actually live in….but awesome to drive through and get buzzed in.
Anyway….the Bonfire Brewery http://bonfirebrewing.com/ was certifiably fuck-tastic. The taproom was so old-west, non-commercial awesome that i wanted to move in. Our service was amiable and knowledgable, and the beer kicked the ever-loving shit out of my taste buds and liver. Plus, the bombers to go were packaged in just about the best 22oz bottles i’d ever seen. A remarkable design achievement. Kudos to all hell. Recommended times a bazilion. Unquestionably one of the trip highlights.
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